The biggest question mark hanging over Tesla’s trillion-dollar pay proposal is not the size of the reward, but the sustainability of Elon Musk’s attention. The ten-year plan requires a decade of dedicated, relentless focus from a CEO famous for his sprawling portfolio of world-changing, attention-consuming ventures.
Musk currently divides his time between leading the charge to Mars with SpaceX, developing brain-computer interfaces with Neuralink, and managing the tumultuous social media platform X, among other projects. Each of these is a monumental undertaking that demands significant mental and emotional energy.
The Tesla plan is a strategic attempt to capture the lion’s share of that energy. The board is betting that a potential trillion-dollar prize will be a strong enough gravitational pull to keep Musk’s primary focus locked on Tesla, even as his other ventures call for his attention.
However, shareholders must assess the risk that this simply isn’t possible, even for someone with Musk’s legendary work ethic. A crisis at SpaceX or a new obsession could inevitably draw his focus away at a critical moment. The success of the most ambitious corporate plan in history may depend on the answer to a very human question: where will Elon Musk’s passion lie tomorrow?